North Bergen group's video, letters to AG's Office may have sparked probe into North Bergen DPW

NORTH BERGEN -- Two letters sent by a township activist group to the state Attorney General's Office last spring -- and a video -- may have sparked the state's investigation of the township Department of Public Works and its superintendent.

"The mayor and administration of North Bergen are utilizing intimidation tactics to suppress votes, intimidate voters and to intimidate candidates," attorney Mario Blanch said in a letter dated April 4, 2011. Blanch represents the North Bergen Concerned Citizens Group, which backed the Citizens for Change slate that ran against incumbent Mayor Nicholas Sacco and his slate. Sacco and his ticket won easily.

Journal file photoNorth Bergen Department of Public Works Superintendent James Wiley.

One month later, Blanch fired off another letter to the AG's Office, complaining that "The local Department of Public Works had been seen through the neighborhood ripping signs down."

On Thursday, detectives from the AG's Office raided the DPW building on Tonnelle Avenue, removing computer records and documents as part of a probe into the agency. Sources said the probe is focusing on allegations that DPW Superintendent Jim Wiley had township employees perform landscaping work at his home.

The state is also investigating whether township employees were ordered to do campaign work -- such as removing campaign literature of Citizens for Change candidates -- on township time, sources said.

North Bergen officials say the investigation has nothing to do with North Bergen Concerned Citizens Group's claims. The state Attorney General's Office would not comment on the investigation.

"The administration of Mayor Nick Sacco, is now, and has been, operating outside the law for many years," Thom Ammirato, a spokesman for the NBCCG, said today.

In a video posted on Youtube.com on April 25, North Bergen DPW workers are seen going door to door removing fliers from outside homes on Newkirk Avenue near 72nd Street. Citizens for Change officials said the fliers that were taken were their campaign literature.

At about the same time, a North Bergen shop owner said she was approached in her store by a DPW official -- later identified as Tim Grossi -- and told that she had better remove a Citizens for Change sign from her window or she'd face problems from the township. A video, without sound, from the store security camera shows Grossi speaking to the woman, who later removed the sign.

In both instances, North Bergen officials denied wrongdoing.

"The allegations made by this group last spring were all silly and without merit," North Bergen spokesman Phil Swibinski said today. "They have nothing to do with the current Attorney General's investigation of the DPW."

Peter Perez, the former commissioner in charge of Parks and Recreation for seven years, served six months in a federal prison in 2004 for accepting kickbacks -- in the form of work done at his home -- and bribes from a contractor who had several contracts with the township.